High Risk Exploratory Research: The Role of Crises in Migration Outcomes: Rural Oaxacans and Politics in Oaxaca City, Mexico

人类学高风险研究的目的之一是为那些及时性(如政治危机)使人类学研究人员迅速进入该领域至关重要的研究提供少量资金。在过去的一年里，墨西哥瓦哈卡州首府瓦哈卡市一直是教师罢工、政治冲突和街头暴力的地点。这场持续的骚乱为美国国务院赢得了旅游建议，游客纷纷离开，酒店、餐馆和相关企业关闭。虽然该市发生的事件对国家和国家经济产出几乎没有影响，但该市企业的关闭严重打击了当地经济。工作岗位的流失对瓦哈卡州的农村人来说尤其艰难，他们从城市周围的农民和印度村庄通勤上班。随着游客避开该地区，当地的手工艺品市场也消失了。这一危机局势为这一研究项目奠定了基础。杰弗里·科恩将对动乱和暴力对移民的影响进行系统的社会科学研究。他将在三个中央山谷社区(Guadalupe Etla、San Juan Guelavia和San Martin Tilcajete)进行人种学研究，这些社区代表瓦哈卡州农村的一个横截面，并记录了移民历史以及在瓦哈卡市工作的成员。在这三个社区中，近一半的家庭在2000年将移民送到了美国，多达五分之一的家庭将成员送到了瓦哈卡市。科恩和他来自美国和墨西哥的研究团队将使用问卷和采访，调查生活在这些社区的人们对城市正在发生的危机的反应，特别是移民到美国。该项目将有助于我们了解从美国移民到墨西哥的原因。虽然关于移徙的辩论主要集中在边界安全问题上，但该项目审查了国内移徙的原因，并将区域经济、政治和社会因素纳入讨论。

One purpose of the High Risk Research in Anthropology is to provide small amounts of funding for research where timeliness, such as a political crisis, makes it essential for anthropological researchers to get into the field quickly. Over the past year, Oaxaca City, the capital of the Mexican state of Oaxaca, has been was the site of a teacher's strike, political strife, and street violence. This persistant unrest has earned a U.S. State Department travel advisory, tourists have stayed away, and hotels, restaurants and associated businesses have closed down. While events in the city have had little effect on the nation and national economic output, the closure of businesses in the city decimated the local economy. The loss of jobs was particularly hard on rural Oaxacans who commuted to their jobs from peasant and Indian villages surrounding the city. The local market for crafts also disappeared as tourists avoided the region. This crisis situation sets the stage for this research project.Dr. Jeffrey Cohen will undertake systematic social science research on the effects of the unrest and violence on migration. He will conduct ethnographic research in three central valley communities (Guadalupe Etla, San Juan Guelavia and San Martin Tilcajete) that represent a cross section of rural Oaxaca and have documented histories of migration as well as members working in Oaxaca City. Almost half of the households in these three communities sent migrants to the US through the year 2000 and as many as a fifth of the households sent members to jobs in Oaxaca City. Using questionnaires and interviews, Cohen and his team of researchers from the United States and Mexico will investigate the response of people living in these communities to the ongoing crisis in the city, with a particular focus on migration to the US. This project will contribute to our understanding of the causes of migration from the United States to Mexico. While much of the migration debate focuses on border security, this project examines causes of migration within the country and brings an essential consideration of regional economic, political and social factors to the discussion.